RIL acquires Infotel, may opt for TD-LTE

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced today the acquisition  of Infotel Broadband Services (P) Ltd, which has emerged as a successful bidder in all the 22 circles of the auction for

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced today the acquisition  of Infotel Broadband Services (P) Ltd, which has emerged as a successful bidder in all the 22 circles of the auction for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Spectrum conducted by the DoT, India.

Based on company statement it appears that RIL may ditch WiMAX and may follow TD-LTE path. According to statement, RIL sees the broadband opportunity as a new frontier of knowledge economy in which it can take a leadership position and provide India with an opportunity to be in the forefront among the countries providing world-class 4G network and services. A single 20 MHz TDD spectrum when used with LTE (Long Term Evolution) has the potential of providing greater capacity when compared to existing communication infrastructure in the country.

RIL will invest about Rs 4,800 crore by way of subscription to fresh equity capital at par to be issued by Infotel Broadband. Post this investment, RIL will own 95% of the equity and Infotel Broadband will be a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited.

“We see this as the next wave of value creation opportunity in the wireless broadband space. We believe this will pole-vault India’s economy into the digital world at an accelerated pace while creating next generation tools that will enhance productivity and create world-class consumer experiences.” said Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited. 

India has witnessed substantial growth in the mobile subscriber base over the last decade. This provides a ready platform for offering various data services which is currently at a very nascent stage. Diverse data services and rich contents have significantly boosted data traffic in developed and other emerging markets. Data communication volume per user has been growing exponentially in the last few years, with the spread of advanced services, and a richer line-up of contents.

RIL plans to create world class state- of-the-art technology using an asset light strategy. RIL will forge several strategic relations with a host of leading global technology players, service providers, infrastructure providers, application developers, device manufacturers and others to leapfrog India to the 4G revolution.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with a turnover of Rs. 2,00,400 crore (US$ 44.6 billion), cash profit of Rs. 27,933 crore (US$ 6.2 billion), net profit of Rs. 16,236 crore (US$ 3.6 billion) and net worth of Rs. 1,37,171 crore (US$ 30.6 billion) as of March 31, 2010.